An example of Michael Vaughan's art work.

His cover drive was pure art to his millions of fans, while his captaincy of the England cricket team featured the brush strokes of brilliance.

Now Michael Vaughan, the first man to skipper an Ashes-winning England side for 18 years, is marrying cricket and creativity as he brings his unusual art to a Norwich gallery.

Vaughan, who retired from the game earlier this year, will be displaying his work at Castle Galleries Norwich, North Terrace, Chapelfield, from November 28 to December 20.

The paintings, billed as “Damien Hirst meets Jackson Pollock”, were created by Vaughan, his bat and a paint-covered cricket ball.

Using the technique, described as “artballing”, Vaughan paints each cricket ball a symbolic colour and then bats it against a blank canvas to create his abstract art, with a story woven into each canvas.

Using his favoured cover drives, square cuts and pull shots, the four limited-edition prints include Six!, Power Play, Day/Night and Yes, No, Maybe?

Vaughan, England’s most successful cricket captain, who led the Ashes-winning squad of 2005, said: “It is a very rare thing to be able to follow a career path that you love and the opportunity to combine my two greatest passions – art and cricket – has been a sublime moment in an extraordinary life of highs and low, dreams and sometimes nightmares.

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan creates his paintings.

“Artballing captures the drama, speed and excitement of cricket in one precious, dynamic visual moment that, unlike the perfect six, lasts a lifetime.”

The work is published by Washington Green Fine Art Publishing. Each limited-edition print has been hand-finished and signed by Vaughan.

The pictures show Michael Vaughan’s ‘artballing’ technique and one of the resulting pictures, called ‘Power Play’.

By: Steve Downes
Source: EDP24

Puns and plays on words aside (or perhaps inside), artist Leandro Elrich has quite an elegant way of shattering our expectations (so to speak) in works like this one, where the properties of one material are experimentally applied to a familiar object made from another substance. The last thing a viewer expects is for an almost boringly ordinary door to crack and crumble like a sheet of glass.

Knobs away! What appears to be a large door knob rests on the floor in front of the broken shards (still sitting loosely in their frame). Other works by Elrich likewise take typical settings, household furnishings and home fixtures like windows, ladders and curtains and add twists that turn these common situations and objects into visually and conceptually challenging works of art.

Source: dornob.com

“As the biggest annual art expo in Taiwan, Art Taipei is destined to become better and better each year,” said Betty Huang, minister of the Cabinet-level Council for Cultural Affairs yesterday at the opening press conference of the event in Taipei. Huang added that the annual event has not only caught the attention of domestic and international art circles, but also has a remarkable transaction record. Last year, a total of NT$750 million in transactions was reported during the five-day fair.

Huang added that, just like last year, the fair will showcase the works of eight talented local young artists in an area entitled “Made in Taiwan — Young Artist Discovery,” with an aim to increasing the visibility of young Taiwanese artists on the world art scene.

Besides the area for local new blood, Art Taipei has five more themed exhibitions: “Art Galleries”; “2009 Art Project — Art & Environment”; “Art, Now — Southeast Asia”; “Ela-Asia” and “Art Media.”.

The 78 galleries from countries all over the world offer various works including oil painting, sculpture, video installations and photographs.

Affordable art

Another feature of 2009 Art Taipei is a special event called “Affordable Art.” The works range from US$200 to US$2000 in price, providing plenty of opportunities for new collectors.

Meanwhile, Asia Art Economy Forum in Taipei will be held during the fair, offering a great chance to share and exchange experiences in the Asian art market with people with real global expertise.

The convener of the art fair, York Hsiao, said the event organizer will donate all ticket income to Typhoon Morakot relief. The five-day Art Taipei 2009 will run until Sept. 1 in Areas A and D of the Taipei World Trade Center.

Written By: Joseph Yeh

The arT of Nude: Travel Picks: World's top 5 nude events

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) – If biking or swimming in the nude is your thing, apparently you are not alone with Nude Recreation Week this month celebrating its 32nd year — but participants advise not to forget the sunscreen.

To celebrate Nude Recreation week, travel website TripAdvisor has come up with a list of the top five nude events enjoyed by naturists internationally. Reuters has not endorsed this lists:

1. World Naked Bike Ride, Worldwide – June and July

Each year since 2004, bike riders have joined to celebrate cycling and protest a culture where cars are king. This year, in 20 countries around the world, participants advocated freedom from oil and fabric. Nude cyclists bared their bodies with messages painted on their backs, fronts and rears. One TripAdvisor traveler advises: “Remember the sunscreen … and those saddles will be hot, hot, hot, so cover them up before alighting, people!”

2. AANR World Record Skinny Dip, Across North America – July

Put more than 12,000 people shoulder deep in pools across North America without a stitch of clothing in sight, and what do you get? The “largest number of people skinny dipping at once,” now a category in the Guinness Book of World Records due to the American Association for Nude Recreation.

3. Nude Beach Olympics, Maslin Beach, Australia – January

Taking place on Australia’s sunny Maslin Beach in South Australia, the games are a celebration of Maslin’s status as first official nude beach in the country.

4. Running of the Nudes, Pamplona, Spain – July

PETA’s “Running of the Nudes” protests the cruelty of bullfighting with participants choosing to show a little skin in hopes that one day Pamplona’s bulls won’t have to. The runners don plastic bull horns, red scarves, and little else, to run the half-mile Pamplona course.

5. Black Rock Desert, Nevada, August – September

The annual Burning Man project is a self-proclaimed haven of self-expression, creativity and community. Drawing 50,000 people to the Black Rock Desert in 2008, huge works of art are generated at the event, namely the “Man,” which is burned on the final night as part of the process of restoring the area to its natural state, with no trace of the revelers. Participants often take advantage of the free-spirited attitude by getting nude.

(Editing by Patricia Reaney)
Source: www.reuters.com

Imagination knows few limits when making crafts from designer fabric samples, including a doll, apron, bag, purse and pillows. Photo by Veronica Weber.

Piles of fabric scraps — from 4-inch squares to half-yard swaths — beckon from a large table, where they’ve been sorted by size, not color or texture.

Metallic-edged linens lie atop leather, or faux leather, or silk, cotton or blends, in stripes, checks and paisleys.

All are free and there for the taking. No limits.

Is this heaven, or what?

Volunteers sorting through piles of fabrics before June's FabMo giveaway event included Glenda Smith, left, Amy Pinneo, Judy Maybell and Valerie Jonutz. Volunteers get first dibs at taking fabric swatches home. Photo by Veronica Weber.

Artists, craftspeople, home sewing enthusiasts, teachers — all have come to the FabMo fabric giveaway, which is held once a month in Palo Alto.

Beginning 11 years ago, Jonathan and Hannah Cranch noticed that Bay Area interior designers were throwing away discontinued fabric samples, which ended up in the landfill. Hannah, a Spectra art teacher in the Palo Alto school district at the time, thought she could cut them up and use them for art projects.

So every six or seven weeks she and her husband, a local contractor, trekked to the City, filled a couple of garbage bags with design discards and distributed the goods to fellow teachers. Over time the couple of bags turned into carloads, and the Cranches needed to rethink how to give it all away.

Crafts made from FabMo giveaways include a potholder, cosmetic bag, baby slippers, pouch and purse. Photo by Veronica Weber.

“We got to the end of the school year, and no one wanted it,” Jonathan said, so soon they were posting their giveaway on freecycle.org.

Today the Cranches organize a once-a-month giveaway, inviting anyone who wants to repurpose the cloth, carpet and tile samples, odd tassels and trims or wallpaper to come and get it.

On a sunny afternoon in June, Amy Pinneo of Palo Alto was sorting fabric to get ready for the monthly giveaway. An artist who’s been sewing and weaving since she was a little girl, Pinneo makes complex bags using five or six different fabrics, sometimes hiding a pocket under an elephant’s ear. She sells some of her creations via www.etsy.com, which features handmade local crafts.

Book artist Judith Halley uses wallpaper samples to create book covers. Photo by Veronica Weber.

Pinneo, who at one time designed fabrics, quickly recognized pieces that retailed at $180 to $400 per yard. As a volunteer sorter, she had first dibs on carting her favorites away.

Palo Altan Judy Wagstrom creates art dolls that she sells at Christmas shows and boutiques. “I get everything (here) but the jersey used for faces and hands. The hair is mohair from goats,” she said.

“It’s just so much fun not knowing what you’ll find,” Wagstrom said after coming to the fabric giveaways for a year. And, she added, “It’s a social activity. You find out what others are doing.”

Smaller fabric samples were incorporated into a quilt. Photo by Veronica Weber.

Rather than competing for the choicest morsels, fabric gleaners often share what they’re looking for, whether it’s a particular shade of rose or something as esoteric as “ecot,” a warp-painted cloth. Some get together for coffee and swap tips on how to work with a particular fabric or make a tote bag. Others offer advice on how to get rid of the labels on some samples (”Use Goo Gone,” one experienced shopper suggested).

Suzanne Olson, a therapist from Los Altos, comes to the FabMo giveaway to tap into her artistic side. “I see this as a vehicle to assimilate different ideas,” she said, noting that she’s made cell-phone cases and quilts.

“The fabrics are so unusual, so unique, they almost invite creative response,” she said.
She chooses her fabrics by her visceral reaction: “I tune in to its potential,” she added.

Judy Maybell of Mountain View was looking for inspiration while sorting. In the past she has worked with a group from Peninsula Bible Church to make quilts for foster children, who get to take the quilt home after camp.

“I took some to a women’s retreat where we made collages of our lives. It was very personal and meaningful. It inspired a friend to do this with a survivor’s group,” Maybell said.

Other artists and hobbyists made appointments — to make sure everyone has a chance to take the time they need to choose — and came to the giveaway. One jewelry maker was seeking a particular shade of purple to coordinate with a wall-hanging sculpture she was envisioning with an amethyst prism, another for just the right fabric to applique on a T-shirt. A teacher was seeking small fabric squares to help her sixth graders make potpourri gift bags.

Jan Scardia from San Carlos has worked with textiles for years, but it was the custom wallpaper that drew her eye. She’s figured out how to make gift bags and little origami boxes that incorporate the folds of the wallpaper samples. “You see things unexpected, that you never thought about before,” she said.

Some make stuffed animals and dolls, others do napkins and placemats, wall hangings and purses.

“This is like going to the paint store,” noted Nancy Desantis-Vannice, from San Mateo.
And some create clothing, including Margaret Winters from Atherton, who has made a linen jacket, as well as a coverlet for a sofa.

When hesitant, other “shoppers” encourage newcomers to just take what appeals; one can always bring it back in the future, if inspiration fails.

Mostly women have come from San Jose to Burlingame to participate in the fabric giveaway. The former discards have been incorporated into quilts sent to Fiji, Ghana or the Philippines and auctioned off in support of the Special Olympics, Jonathan Cranch said. “The response of the community has been very welcoming,” he said.

After turning their home into a fabric refuge, the Cranches are negotiating for a regular space in the warehouse district of South Palo Alto.

The last few months, FabMo events have been held at Fiber High, a small-business incubator that offers high-speed Internet connectivity. A member of FabMo was driving by and noticed the name on a sign. “It’s a short transition from optical fiber to fabric,” laughed David Gjerdrum, managing partner at Fiber High. The hope is that several fabrocentric organizations can find a way to share space, Cranch said.

In the fall, he added, a FabMo Artist Exhibit is planned for Oct. 24, when participants can see what others have done with all that fabric. cblitzer@paweekly.com.

What: FabMo fabric sorting and giveaway
When: Sorting: Wednesday, July 29; distribution: July 30-31, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Aug. 1, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.; Sept. 3-4, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sept. 5, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
Where: Fiber High, 895 Commercial St., Palo Alto
Reservations: E-mail fabrix@fabmo.org to reserve a time, or help.fabrix@gmail.com to help with sorting.
Info: Visit www.fabmo.org

Source: www.paloaltoonline.com